BALTIMORE (AP) — Anthony Santander hit a go-ahead three-run double in the seventh inning, and the AL-best Baltimore Orioles defeated the Chicago White Sox 9-3 on Tuesday night to match their victory total from last season.
Baltimore (83-49), which has won nine of 11, remained 2 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East. The Orioles went 83-79 in 2022, their first winning season since 2016.
Lenyn Sosa hit his third homer in five games for Chicago (52-81), which has lost 12 of 17.
The Orioles took the lead with a two-out rally in the seventh against Aaron Bummer (4-3). Pinch-hitter Ryan McKenna singled and stole second, and Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson followed with walks.
Santander then poked an opposite-field shot past first and that rattled into the right-field corner. By the time Oscar Colás collected it and threw it into the infield, three runners had scored and the Orioles were up 4-1.
Austin Hays helped preserve that lead when he crashed into the big wall in left field and caught a deep drive by Luis Robert Jr. to end the eighth.
Then, in the bottom half, Baltimore scored five runs against Bryan Shaw to turn it into a rout. The Orioles also scored five in the eighth of the series opener to win 9-0.
Baltimore starter Dean Kremer encountered little difficulty over the first six innings besides Sosa’s one-out homer to center in the third. He was lifted after yielding back-to-back singles to begin the seventh, but Danny Coulombe (4-1) retired the next three White Sox to end the threat.
Kremer allowed six hits and a run and struck out five in six-plus innings.
Chicago rookie Jesse Scholtens retired the first nine Orioles, then stranded two men in the fourth inning. Baltimore stitched together three singles in a four-batter span in the fifth, with Adam Frazier’s base hit to right scoring Hays.
Scholtens allowed a run and six hits in 5 1/3 innings while striking out one.
Chicago scored twice in the ninth against Shintaro Fujinami and had two on with one out. But Korey Lee flied out to center, and Sosa was caught far off first and doubled up to end the game.
UP NEXT
White Sox: RHP Dylan Cease (5-7, 4.87 ERA), who is 1-3 with an 8.22 ERA in five August starts, takes the mound as the three-game series concludes Wednesday.
Orioles: RHP Kyle Gibson (13-7, 4.89) is 9-5 with a 3.07 ERA in 19 lifetime starts against the White Sox.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
